Upcoming: SCHOOL PARLIAMENTS' MEETING

From 4th to 7th April 2016, the "Sport Palace" hotel in the city of Sliven will be hosting an annual meeting of school parliaments' representatives from 170 schools, included in the "Every student will be a winner" project network in Bulgaria. The event will be running under the "School for Tolerance" motto and will include topics about the early marriages and emotional education, leadership and conflict solving, tolerance, volunteering, etc.

Center "Amalipe" has prepared a challenge for the students - they'll have the opportunity to participate in a real Parliament session and meet the Vice Minister of education Diyan Stamatov and other official guests. The adolescents will be free to ask questions and discuss the problems in the educational sphere.

"Every student will be a winner" is a long-term program, supported by Trust for social achievement.

Project activities are intended to solve the problem of the large number of absences, low grades in school, the relatively small percentage of Roma students continuing their education in secondary schools (high schools) and high school graduates, lack of participation of Roma parents in school life and school structures management. The project steps on the rich experience of "Amalipe" for the introduction of "Ethnic Folklore - Roma folklore" and the program reducing dropout of Roma children from school, which was implemented within a 3 – year period in over than 170 schools throughout Bulgaria.

The Trust for Social Achievement (TSA)is a nonprofit organization, whose mission is to break the poverty cycle by promoting opportunities that help Bulgaria’s most disadvantaged citizens achieve educational and economic success. TSA supports programs that, with integrity, scalability, and transparency, boost the long-term achievement of Bulgaria’s poorest, with a focus on the Roma.

National meeting of principals within the 'Every student will be a winner" project was held on 12-13th of February in Sofia

On 12th and 13th of February over 150 highly motivated principals of schools, included in the "Every student will be a winner" network, took part in the national project meeting in Sofia. The event was supported by the Trust for Social Achievement. Striving to help every child to become an excellent student, the principals discussed and shared ideas and experience about their best achievements and failures. The common opinion for the "Amalipe" networking was that one could share his experience and receive "help from a friend".

The two- day event included intensive work in groups about sharing and solving different cases from the school life. The topics were concerning the elements of the project: Student parliaments, Parent clubs, Students at risk of dropping out and Exchange visits. The topic about the early marriages was also revised. The participants shared many achievements from their school life. Each school had succeeded to prepare a clear methodology to detect the students at risk and to attract all the stakeholders to overcome the danger of dropping-out - other students, parents and teachers. "The most important is that all of us understand how important is to fight for saving every student! And we do it!"- said Petya Rusinova, principal of the Primary School in the Selanovtsi village.

Here are some of the conclusions made within the group work:

Students, participating in the Student parliaments, are self-driven. They give ideas for different activities and work for attracting the parents in the school life. The Student parliament serves as a corrective of the behavior of students at risk;

The Parent clubs contribute for improving the communication process between students, parents and teachers by organizing seminars, meetings, campaign, etc. The organized activities have bigger success, when formal and informal Roma leader parents take part in the Parent club;

The schools take care for the students at risk of dropping out. The children are provided with free transport, food and to be involved in extracurricular activities. The schools prepare School prevention programs and work with the following institutions: the Department of Child Protection, the Social Assistance Directorate, the local Mayor or Mayor deputy, the local police, the Resource center, the Center for Social Support;

The exchange visits work very well for opening of the Roma groups to each other, hence to the rest of the society. The visits have positive effect over reducing the capsulation of the more conservative Roma groups. The high schools visits contribute for raising the number of students, continuing their education in 9th grade. This is especially effective over the Roma girls.

The topic about the early marriages was very actual for the participants in the meeting. A part of the shared practices and suggestions were as well: creating virtual group for supporting the girls, common trainings with parents for overcoming those attitudes in the community, engaging education mediators, local formal and informal leaders, etc. Teodora Krumova presented the "Early marriages - culture or abuse" project, financed by the European Commission (General Directorate "Justice"). The main purposes of the project are aimed for researching the situation with the early marriages/cohabitations, early problem detecting within the Roma community. Also, the project provides to test educational modules in schools about overcoming the aggression, recognizing and respecting the differences between the people, recognizing and controlling the emotions, recognizing the problem with the early marriages, aiming to inform the teenagers and children to raise their self-respect. There are materials about 5 topics with rich video and pedagogical data, prepared within the project, to which the schools are interested. Learn more about the project at www. amalipe.com

The participants thanked the organizers and said they would look for future contacts.

"Very helpful and information in advance were altering during the two days. The experience exchange, the case discussions and the solution search were the foundation of the group work, which in fact was continuing even in the coffee breaks."- opinion of the directors of the schools from South-Western Bulgaria.

Support for Center "Amalipe" is provided by the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation. The statements and opinions expressed herein are solely those of Center "Amalipe" and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation or its affiliates.

National Forum for Educational Integration Policies gathered school principals, representatives of the Ministry and NGOs

Ways to implement the policy for educational integration and development of education in rural areas after the adoption of the new Act on pre-school and school education were discussed by school principals, NGO activists and representatives of the Ministry of Education. This happened during the forum "Policies for Educational Integration: Opportunities and Challenges in the context of reforms in education", held on 11th of February in Sofia. The event was organized by Center "Amalipe" with the financial support of the Roma Education Fund. It brought together over one hundred and fifty school principals from across the country and representatives of the three directorates of the Ministry of Education, who discussed together upcoming steps in developing the national standard for intercultural education, "Your lesson" (which is the largest investment program to modernize education in the coming two years) and necessary legislative changes.

The Act on pre-school and school education is a step forward for ensuring the legal framework of policies for educational integration, said the Chairman of Center "Amalipe" Deyan Kolev at the opening of the forum. The Act provides texts that will support policies for educational integration of children and students from ethnic minorities: it introduces a standard for intercultural education (although as "civic, health, environmental and intercultural education"), it also requires all schools to develop their own programs reducing early school leaving and integration of students from vulnerable groups. The formation of classes with students from one ethnic group in schools, which educate children from different ethnic groups is prohibited by the new Act. At the same time it has serious challenges: segregated schools are not prohibited and it doesn't make clear how intercultural communication will proceed in cases where desegregation is not possible, which is the case with rural schools; primary education will be graduated in seventh grade, which will make about 10% of children stay a year less in school and others.

Rositsa Ivanova, Secretary of NCCEII said that ethnically mixed group of students submitted brilliantly Bulgaria in Strasbourg on assuming the Presidency of the Council of Europe. In his speech Robert Djerassi emphasized that the best guarantee for training in ethnically mixed classrooms is the quality of education. Only the quality could stop the secondary segregation, said Mr. Djerassi by giving the example of the Jewish school in Sofia. The majority of children, learning there are no longer only Jews. There are a lot of Bulgarians who are enrolled in the school.

After the political greetings, participants were divided into groups to formulate ideas for follow-up on implementation of policies for educational integration and development of education in rural areas. They focused on five areas identified as key ones for the next year:

1. The standard for intercultural education, which must be adopted by August 2016;

2. Project "Your Lesson", which will be the largest investment resource for development of school education in the coming years, incl. to finance activities in schools;

3. Establishing public councils, required by law, to be an essential tool for parental involvement;

4. Preparation for the creation of combined schools that can reform school structure in rural areas and lead to an increase in the percentage of Roma young people who complete secondary education;

5. Work on other standards and regulations for funding

As expected most lively debates were made over the developed project "Your lesson", which is not aimed specifically at Roma students, but has the potential to turn every school into a desirable place for students and parents. Participants made a number of concrete proposals how the project could ensure activities to empower parents, to desegregation and intercultural communication in rural areas, to prevent dropping out of Roma children from school, as well as variety of extracurricular activities.

During the second session, participants presented their proposals to representatives of three of the directorates in the Ministry of Education involved in the development of standards for intercultural education and the project "Your lesson." In the discussion that followed, they argumented their proposals and received support for the main ones.

The forum ended with confidence that the new education act would provide opportunities for educational integration policy, which should be materialized in the defveloping standards and supported by major (mainstream) programs financed by OP "Science and education for smart grow". The participation of all stakeholders - including schools, NGOs, parents and local communities is the key to success and must be guaranteed.

International photo competition to reward best photos on the diasporas of Europe

International photo competition to reward best photos on the diasporas of Europe

Participants to capture what makes them feel strongly about diaspora identity and pin it on the map of Europe to win a GoPro camera and have their photo exhibited in the European Parliament

February 1, 2016, Brussels - Today the project “A Europe of Diasporas” launched a competition for the best photo to illustrate the life and legacy of the Armenian, Jewish, Roma and Assyrian diasporas of Europe. The project as well as the competition are run jointly by the organizations AGBU Europe, Phiren Amenca and EUJS.

The competition is open to all and submissions must be made directly to the web site www.europeofdiasporas.eu. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2016.

The aim of the competition is to help place Europe's diasporas on the map: diasporas are recognizable not by the borders they draw, but by the contributions they make to European society, including memorable landmarks and individuals that marked their epoch.

This competition is open to entrants aged 18 years and over regardless of their country of residence. More info on eligibility can be found in our terms and conditions.

"...The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.” - Ernst Haas.

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About the project. A “Europe of Diasporas” is a European project and is a first step towards the establishment of a network of diasporas in Europe. This network will aim to help affirm the notion that diasporas have been part of the European story for many centuries and that they are an asset for Europe. It promotes the idea that diasporas identities need not be tied to a territory or to a source of authority to be legitimate and valuable.

Phiren Amenca is a network of Roma and non-Roma volunteers and voluntary service organizations creating opportunities for non-formal education, dialogue and engagement, in order to challenge stereotypes and racism.

The European Union of Jewish Studentsis a pluralistic, inclusive and non-partisan umbrella organization that supports Jewish student unions throughout Europe and represents its members in international institutions and organizations.

AGBU Europe coordinates and develops the pan-European activities of the Armenian General Benevolent Union. Established in 1906, AGBU is the world’s largest non-profit Armenian organization. AGBU Europe runs numerous programmes in fields relating to academic research, the preservation and promotion of heritage, education and culture as well as awareness raising, advocacy and leadership training.